On Jan. 27, Williams School junior Niha Burugapalli of East Lyme and her family traveled to the University of Hartford to accept her Scholastic Art & Writing Award Regional Gold Key, automatically entering her into national competition.

At Williams, Burugapalli leads the Service Committee, acts in theater productions and takes honors classes.

The artwork she entered into the Scholastic Art competition is a self-portrait drawn from a childhood photo titled “Innocence.”

Works are judged on originality, technical skill and emergence of personal vision or voice. Burugapalli takes art courses at Williams with Tekla Zweir and at Lyme Art Association in Old Lyme.

Born in the south of India, Burugapalli includes cultural imagery and symbolism in her work, and last year was recognized with an honorable mention by the Congressional Art Competition for her oil painting “The Golden Cup.”

She was also honored by the Scholastic Art competition last year with a Silver Key.